Middle East

Jan. 30, 2014 | 12:21 AM

Syria’s media put differences aside at foundering peace talks

Louay Safi spokesperson for the Syrian National Coalition, Syria's main political opposition group, is surrounded by journalists after a meeting with the Syrian government at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

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Journalists and activists loyal to opposing sides of Syria's civil war have managed something the negotiators at this peace conference haven't – talking to each other.

Still, the activists and journalists in this article asked to remain anonymous, fearing rebuke back at home.

At the U.N. cafeteria, pro-Assad reporters pester their anti-government peers for details on northern Syria, where the rebels hold large swaths of territory and Al-Qaeda-linked groups are on the rise.

Activists try to talk to pro-government media about massacres in opposition areas, about the disappearances of activists and the brutal tactics of the security forces who have so far ensured four decades of Assad family rule.

At an opposition news conference, an activist says it is rebels who are now fighting to push out the most radical rebel group in northern Syria, an Al-Qaeda branch known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS).

Pro-government journalists insist it was a foreign conspiracy against the country.